What do you feed your dog and why?

[tugger5000]

Interesting website.

What is the opinion on Hill's Science Diet?

[Skip]

I've read many posts here that you can do much better than science diet. Also, I'd like to let people know that my switch from Wellness to Healthwise has been great. No problems such as new allergies. He wolfs it down just like the Wellness. His coat still looks great. Thanks to all who recommended Healthwise to me.

[The Barleys]

I use Back to Basics Chicken for my four dogs. They love it!

[BostonRott]

Be careful with Solid Gold. It's a very low fat food, compared to some of the others. If you're having coat problems, low fat is NOT where you want to go.

My guys have done very well on Innova, but it's just too pricey. They're currently on Wellness, and I'm considering a new food, I started a new thread about it to see if anyone has heard of it.

Did the raw diet thing..........too much work, don't have the time for it. And my dogs really didn't look that much better than on high quality kibbles.

[Sheenagirl]

Sheena and Cheyenne are currently on California Nat'l. Rice and Chicken and doing quite well.

They didn't like Wellness. Canidae didn't agree with Sheena (more itching). Tried my cat and my daughter's two cats on Innova - none of them would eat it.

Both dogs did well on the Nutro Natural Chicken and Rice - they loved the taste of it but the Calif. Nat'l. has a little better ingredients (I think anyway) but I wouldn't have a problem putting them back on Nutro Nat'l. either. ;)

[whitney greenway]

Mine eats Flint River Ranch.

She loves it and is doing very well on it.

[RottiMomCT]

Originally posted by tugger5000
Interesting website.

What is the opinion on Hill's Science Diet?

You mean Science Death? Recommended by vets because the company pays the vets to sell it?? That food? YUCK! MUCH better options out there for foods - especially at the prices most vets charges for it!

I get it donated to the local shelter and even they don't wanna feed it, but they'll never look a gift horse in the mouth when it comes to free food! Seriously - a majority of the donated food we get is Nutro, some Natures Recipe, ProPlan, and once in a great while a bag of Gravy Train will pop up (even the ducks living in the pond next to the shelter won't eat that!).

Science Diet, even the new 'all natural' formula, is not a good one to feed. My train of thought (derailed today by another 8 inches of snow :D ) is that any commercially available, widely distributed food (supermarket, WalMart, etc) is going to have lower quality ingredients. I feed Royal Canin Sensible Choice Natural Blend Holistic Formula, available at PetCo for about $30 for a 30 pound bag...I feed Ben 2 cups a day, he poops twice a day, and a bag of food usually lasts me about 45-50 days (if we're out and about I feed him more, knowing he'll use up the extra calories, etc...).

Good luck in the search for a good food....theres ALOT of info out there to sort through.

[SpotsNRotts]

<<I get it donated to the local shelter and even they don't wanna feed it, but they'll never look a gift horse in the mouth when it comes to free food! >>

Can you imagine my joy when I walked over to the kennel last week and found a bunch of cans of Canidae donated from a local feed store??? OK, the exp. date was a couple months ago but I said to myself, THATS OK! If I opened it and it was funky that would be one thing, but the shelter guys who are used to picking at Pedigree and Alpo (and sometimes WORSE) have been wolfing down the Pro-Plan dry mixed with the Canidae cans!
PLEASE, if your dogs don't like a certain food, bring it to your local shelter!!! When there is an employee (like me) who knows about good nutrition, it totally makes our day to get some decent food to feed our dogs!!! Shelter animals are under more stress than normal and thus more susceptible to digestive upset, so although we appreciate ALL donations, we do feel that quality is more important than quantity!! ;) :D

[gsdgirls]

i feed eagle pack holistic select! great food

[poohbearsmom]

California Natural Lamb & Rice. This food was rated one of the best by Whole Dog Magazine. Very few ingredients, very good results for my dogs.

My puppy did not do well on Canidae AT ALL. Itchy Itchy Itchy. Too much stuff in there.

[Wookie'sMom]

I switch foods, but a good one that has only been breifly mentioned is Eagle Pack Holistic Select (Wookie likes the Anchovies, Sardines, and Salmon best :) ). I rotate between that Canidae and Innova with some Steve's mixed in for fun.

[HerculesMomma]

I tried Hercules on Nutro Max Large Adult Breed food and he liked it, but I don't think it agreed with him totally. After doing research, we settled on California Natural Chicken and Rice made by Natura. Natura also makes Healthwise.

Check out their website:
http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=home-tab

On the homepage they have a comparison wizard that will allow you to see all of their ingredients as well as any competitors ingredients and be able to compare them side by side and they will give you an explanation for every ingredient in their or their competitors food. Very helpful!

I choose California Natural for 2 reasons. First, it's all natural human grade food (stories about other dead dogs and cats from shelters being put into commercial foods sent me on a quest to find a good choice) and second, because it has minimal ingredients for any potential allergy problems. Since I just adopted Hercules, I wasn't sure what would agree with him and what wouldn't so I thought I would start with a food that didn't have a lot of ingredients in it. Candiae had something called Menhaden Fish Meal in it and although it's supposedly a good source of protein and oils, it's I guess not human grade. A lot of other foods I looked at had Brewers Yeast in it - which can be a big source of allergies for sensitive dogs.

In the end, it's simply a personal choice I'm sure so you probably have to decide what quality of food and/or if allergies may play a role in your dogs diet. Maybe simply a supplement for your dogs coat would work just fine? Just my two cents.... :p

[Judy Chrusch]

I'm with Larry, I too feed California Natural Lamb and Rice, I use to feed Innova, it's a great food but too many ingredients for some, Czar being one of them. He had chronic ear infections, I spent a fortune at the vets and his coat started looking dull and he started spiratically vomiting soooooo, we had him allergy tested and he was allergic to about 5 ingredients in Innova . It only took 2 days before I noticed a difference and this poor guy went from flushing his ears EVERY day to now, not in weeks :D. We are thrilled and I owe it all to Larry. With his recommendation I actually switched foods before we got the results and when they came back, they HIGHLY recommended the California Natural :D . I could be wrong, but I swear Czar's body even looks better and his teeth AND he has much more stamina :D. We are overall thrilled!!!

So that being said, find a food that works for your dog with little agredients if possible and of course a good quality food :) .

I use to give Czar baby carrots for a snack and it was also in Innova, who'd ever think your dog could be allergic to them , but he was.

Best of luck, happy food hunting :) .

Judy

[frontierrots]

There is no one magic food for any breed. All dogs, like humans, are individuals. What works for some makes others have diarrhea.

My dogs don't tolerate Innova, Wellness or canidae. Cow pie poops and gas

Currently most of the dogs get Healthwise Adult chicken & oatmeal kibble. One gets Healthwise puppy mixed 50/50 with Bravo Raw and One (12+ with bladder cancer) gets Bravo raw mixed with Innova canned

[Troy]

I feed Kamen Innova.

Just a terrific food...he's done wonderful on it. It's worth every penny. :)